Aspects of Connected Speech

Yod Coalescence
• Yod is the name of the smallest letter in
the Hebrew alphabet – it stands for the
vowel /i:/ or the semi-vowel /j/. In
English phonetics Yod coalescence is a
form of assimilation, a phenomenon
which takes place when /j/ is preceded
by certain consonants most commonly
/t/ and /d/:
 /t/ + /j/ = /tʃ/ 

What you need.      /wɒtʃu ni:d/

The ball that you brought. /ðə bɔ:l ðətʃu: brɔ:t/
But use your head! /bətʃu:z jɔ: hed/
Last year /lɑ:stʃɪə/

/d/ + /j/ = / dʒ/

Could you help me?       /kʊdʒu help mi:/

Would yours work? /wʊdʒɔ:z wɜ:k/

She had university students    /ʃi: hædʒu:ni:vɜ:sɪti

stju:dənts/
In a similar way /s/ + /j/, and /z/ + /j/
can sometimes be pronounced as /ʃ/
and /ʒ/ respectively, but this is less
common and not of great interest to
the foreign student of English.
Yod coalescence is common in
colloquial speech and is becoming ever
more so. Note that it can occur within
words (e.g. tube /tju:b/ = /tʃu:b/) and
between word boundaries (as in the
above examples).
The fact that two extremely recurrent words in
English, you and your, start with /j/ means that
understanding of this simple mechanism is vital
to the understanding of spoken English. 

Do you is often pronounced as /dʒə/:

Do you live here?     / dʒə lɪv hɪə/  
• Exercise 1. Identify places where yod coalescence
may occur in the following phrases and then listen:
1 What you need is a good job!

2 You told me that you had your homework done.

3 She didn’t go to France that year.

4 Could you open the window please?

5 You’ve already had yours!

• References
• Brett, D. (n.d). Yod Coalescence. In Aspects of Connected Speech. Retrieved in
January, 2018 from: http://davidbrett.uniss.it/phonology/notes%20and
%20exercises/yod%20coal/yod_coalescence.htm

All the recording were made by:

• Joshua David Britnell. He was born in Gainesville, Florida. USA and holds a Master
of Arts, Global Studies from Liberty University.